Not Quite Right (A Lowcountry Mystery) (Lowcountry Mysteries Book 6)

Not Quite Right (A Lowcountry Mystery) (Lowcountry Mysteries Book 6) by Lyla Payne Page A

Book: Not Quite Right (A Lowcountry Mystery) (Lowcountry Mysteries Book 6) by Lyla Payne Read Free Book Online
Authors: Lyla Payne
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Frank. How’s your day going?”
    That makes him laugh, and it loosens the tension between my shoulders the slightest bit. The truth is, we need someone we can trust who knows what in the hell he’s doing. No matter how much I love Will and Mel, and Leo, and everyone else in this town willing to stick their neck out for me, none of them know jack about doing mental combat with a hundred-year-old spirit hell-bent on revenge.
    “I have a feeling that’s not why you called.” His tone grows serious. “We shouldn’t be talking at all, you know.”
    “Why not? You don’t trust me?”
    “You’re awfully chummy with the law, darlin’.”
    I can almost hear him shrug. My mind catches his use of the Southernism, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s put on or not now that my curiosity has wandered to where he’s from originally.
    “I’m not turning you in, Frank. Not as long as you’re more good to me out in the wild.”
    “That’s a comfort, it truly is.” He clears his throat, maybe to cover the sound of someone talking in the background. “What kind of good am I going to be doing you today?”
    In his voice, I hear a warning: Don’t ask any more about Travis. He doesn’t want to talk about it. Lucky for him, there’s something else on my mind today.
    “I want you to help me find a ghost.”
    The pause goes on for a couple of heartbeats longer than makes me comfortable. I’m ordering my argument for his help in my mind when he replies.
    “Why don’t you ask your friend Daria?”
    “She’s scared,” I say, a little more bluntly than I mean to. “Usually I don’t have issues with finding this particular ghost, but I’ve been banned from the property she frequents and she’s not cooperating anyway.”
    He chuckles. “Banned from the property? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t right proud.”
    “Save the fatherly moment. If my penchant for running on the wrong side of the law comes from you, I could do without it.” I could do without it either way, honestly, but not if it means abandoning my goals.
    “You just need to talk to this spirit? Nothing else?”
    “What else is there?”
    He’s silent again, and this time no answer to my question ever comes. “Henry warned me that you haven’t been taking my advice to look into our family’s past.”
    “I haven’t had— Wait, Henry warned you? Is he like a spy or something?” Anger builds in my chest. That damn ghost has been lurking around my house for months now, all the time refusing to tell me how to help him move along. I never would have guessed he was there the whole time for someone else’s reasons.
    Regardless, Henry Woodward and I are going to have a chat the next time he mopes his way into my bedroom.
    “Don’t be sore at Henry, darlin’. If you’d done your research you’d know he doesn’t have a choice in the matter.”
    Half a dozen questions rattle around in my head about Henry—among other things—but I press my lips together to stop them. Focus. This information is good, even if I do feel violated.  
    “Well, then Mama Lottie won’t have a choice but to show up, either,” I say.
    “Mama Lottie? Oh, your ghost.”
    Is there a catch in his voice? Does he know about her? How could he if he’s not involved in this ordeal and isn’t from around Heron Creek or Charleston?
    I sigh, exhausted by all of the things I need to know but don’t. “Will you help me get an…an audience with her, I guess? It won’t take long. There’s just one thing she needs to know about our agreement.”
    “You made a deal with a ghost? I do not like the sound of that, Graciela.”
    “Yeah, well, it’s not like you’ve exactly been around for me to go to for advice, so you don’t get to play the concerned parent now,” I snap. “Can you help?”
    “Yes. I’ll come to the house.”
    “When?”
    “I can’t say. I’ll be there when I can.” He coughs, again over patter in the background. “I’ve got to go. Stay

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